Book Review - The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane

 Book Review - The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane


The Red Badge of Courage is different from most of the books I read.  It is like an impressionist painting.  Where the painting uses light, color, and brush strokes to evoke the feeling of the moment rather than an exact image of the scene, this novel uses imagery to evoke the feelings of the battle while not really describing the battle as a whole.  It is more realistic than the romantic renderings of battle usually given.  Whereas is many “war” novels soldiers are seen as heroes and the battle as something great and glorious, this novel describes the horror, the fear, the stress and strain, as well as the feelings of heroism and victory.  While I would read this first before I let my kids read it as it is somewhat graphic, I think high schoolers should be able to handle it and would do well to work through it in a group or class.  This is a great companion to any study of the Civil War.  

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